Traditional multi-hop wireless protocols are structured such that a relay node that receives a packet frame from a source node or another relay node is required to transmit an acknowledge message (e.g., an implicit, silent, or explicit acknowledge message) confirming receipt of the packet frame. A source or relay node that transmits a packet frame may store the packet frame and continue to retransmit the packet frame until it receives an acknowledgement frame confirming the receipt of the packet frame by a subsequent relay or destination node. For example, a source node may transmit a packet frame intended for a destination node via relay nodes A, B, and C, in order. Relay node B may receive the packet frame from relay node A, generate and transit an acknowledgement frame to relay node A confirming receipt of the packet frame. Relay node A may retransmit the packet frame towards relay node B until it receives the acknowledgement frame (or exceeds a retransmitting limit), from relay node B, confirming the receipt of the packet frame by relay node B. Accordingly, a source or relay node may store and retransmit a packet frame for an undesirable amount of time if a subsequent relay or destination node does not receive the packet frame, or an acknowledgement frame is not successfully transmitted to the relay node.